When you look at words on a whiskey label, think of them as scouts earning badges. Just like scouts, not all whiskies earn all the badges.
The alcohol industry is one of the most regulated industries in the world. The words on the bottles matter and often times have legal definitions. There have been several lawsuits recently where some of the words have been twisted by marketers to make something sound a bit different than the truth. There are strict guidelines that must be followed when labeling alcohol bottles.
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Take a look at this Infographic and you will find a list of the most common terms used to identify whiskey and what’s inside a bottle.
Here’s a list of the most common badges that distillers use to describe their products.
- Distilled by
- Distilled and Bottled by
- Produced by
- Bottled by – For example, Distilled in Indiana, Bottled by or Distilled in Kentucky, Bottled by. This usually means that company sourced and bought the whiskey from someone else and they did not distill it. It’s not a bad thing, they are just stating the facts.
- Whiskey or Whisky
- Bourbon
- Straight
- Age Statement
- Small Batch – There is no legal definition for Small Batch but, it’s still a badge in this example.
- Single Barrel – Similar to Small Batch, there is no legal definition for Single Barrel but, it’s still a badge in this example.
- Bottled in Bond, Bonded, Aged in Bond (Combines all the badges.)
Bottled in Bond may not guarantee that you will like the flavor of each and every Bottled in Bond Whiskey out there, but it does insure that it is the most regulated; A.K.A. the EAGLE SCOUT of Whiskies!
So I ask you, why wouldn’t you want every single one on your bar!? I do on mine!
Click here to see the full size How Whiskey Labels Earn Their Eagle Scout Badges infographic.
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